The Failings of Team Seven
by Willy Wonka is Wonking
Summary: What if rather than Sakura it was Sakumo? Would it have changed anything- probably not. MaleSakura
1. Out of Luck

Disclaimer: I own nothing

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Haruno Sakumo was not always the same child, Mebuki mused.

Sakumo had had been her own little pink angle up until the age of five; which was around the first time Sakumo had begun to socialize with other children his age. Maybe it was due to the influence of that devil-child, maybe it was his cherry blossom pink hair; but on reflection, she realized it may have been the way she had called out from the other side of the quad wishing good luck on his first day at the Academy to 'Saku-chan'.

Children where merciless after all, but then maybe it was better that Sakumo had grown a skin sooner rather than later.

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Chapter 1: Out of Luck

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Running towards the Academy as fast as he could, Sakumo almost tripped over himself as he came to an abrupt stop. Looking up, he didn't even try to scholar his expression as his eyes all but popped from his skull. He unconsciously face palmed as he stared at the graffiti desecrating the Hokage monument; it wasn't even good graffiti at that, red spirals- that Sakumo recognized as the Uzumaki clan symbol but were also akin to the spiral of a narutomaki- randomly scattered between badly painted poos.

Disrespect to the Hokages aside, at least being late to class wouldn't be a problem until they managed to get the orange devil off of the side of the mountain; and despite the large crowd that was gathered at the base of the mountain and on top of the Hokage tower he was still painting.

Sakumo took a moment to make a mental note of this for later, so he could rub it in when Naruto inevitably failed, and began running towards the Academy. His luck was only so strong after all, and maybe he could score a seat next to Ino if he hurried. It was worth a short at the very least.

In the end while he did get a seat next to Ino it was barely worth it. After all she was already sitting next to '_Sasuke-kun'_ and all but rubbing herself against him. His luck was a fluke after all, but at least Sasuke hadn't acknowledged Ino in anyway. Small mercies.

As he lowered his head into his arms Ikura-sensei barged in with Naruto carried over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Ikura-sensei dropped him on the floor in front of the class, all the students suddenly very quiet.

The only noise was a quiet 'Bah.' From Naruto himself.

"MORON! This is no time to be causing trouble, tomorrow is the ninja school's graduation exam." Ikura-sensei yelled, not uncharacteristically. " You have failed the last two times!" Sakumo raised his eyebrows at that. He knew that Naruto was a dobe but surely not that bad.

Naturo just sighed loudly. "Yeah, yeah.." Something is Iruka-sensei visibly snapped at this balant disrespect, it was almost audible.

"Time for a review test on 'Henge no Jutsu'." Iruka-sensei yelled. "Everyone line up." The class collectively groaned.

"What!" Kaoru screamed from behind me. Sakumo scowled as he felt his ears ring a little, why was it that as soon as Naruto entered a room it got so noisy?

"Transform perfectly into me." Sensei instructed as everyone grudgingly lined up.

Sakumo found the transformation easy enough; transforming into Sensei was easy enough he had a few distinct features and as long as he nailed those Iruko-sensei didn't notice the other differenced, he had never had any trouble with any of the Academy ninjitsu, unlike someone...

"Sexy no Jutsu!" In Naruto's place was a blonde, busty woman. Sakumo instantly felt his face turn bright red. Stop it, he schooled himself, even if he looks like that it was still Naruto. The woman had the same whiskered cheeks and colouring. Bad thoughts!

Fortunately Iruka-sensei's reaction was much more noticeable, and much louder. Blood began rushing down Sensei's face as he fell backwards into what looked like a dangerously large puddle of blood and lay there twitching.

Naruto burst out laughing, all but falling backwards onto the shocked people behind him, also hiding red faces. At the noise Ikura-sensei jumped to his feet, his face now red in anger as he screeched like at Naruto like a woman.

"You dumbass! Don't invent stupid skills!"

Sakumo sighed, glancing to his right at Ino still making puppy dog eyes at Sasuke, his luck really had run out. He crossed his fingers, silently wishing tomorrow would be better.

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It wasn't much better. The test paper was easy work for Sakumo after being utterly thrashed by Mizuki-sensei in taijutsu. Sakumo glowered at his tightly linked hands, knuckles turning white from the pressure; he knew taijutsu was his weak point but he never imagined he sucked quite that badly. He deflated, his forehead pressing against the table hoping no one would notice his black eye. Mizuki-sensei had apologized profusely when he realized he had gone 'overboard' which only made Sakumo all the more frustrated now. At least Ino was too busy fawning over Sasuke to notice. Small comforts.

"Now for graduation you will perform the Bunshin no Jutsu." Iruka-sensei announced. "When you are called go to the next room."

Sakumo perked up at that. Bushin's where easy, he could do that. He suppressed a grin under the palm of his hand as he noticed Naruto freaking out behind him. The dead-last would be failing for the third time; Naruto couldn't create a Bunshin to save his own life.

"Haruno Sakumo." He got up at the sound of his name and made his way to the other room, taking in Mizuki and Iruka-sensei sitting behind a desk covered in standard blue Konoha hitae but not enough to pass the entire class. Sakumo felt his hand twitch at his side.

Mizuki-sensei smiled reassuringly as Sakumo stood in front of his teachers. Sakumo responded with a smaller smile before performing the technique without prompting.

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_Tiger, Boar, Oz, Dog_

_._

His clone seemed to fade in to existence, walking out of Sakumo's silhouette rather than bursting into existence with an explosion of colored smoke to obscure the real caster, overall it was less chakra intensive and Sakumo got the chance to spare a look at the illusion.

The copy faced foreword, it's face blank except for a slight frown that seemed to ingrain itself in Sakumo's neutral expression. It's eyes where the same pale green, its hair the same pink, and though it's hair did seem a little long it was otherwise identical.

"Can you create more?" Mizuki-sensei prompted. Iruka-sensei was leaning back in his chair silent and with a slight frown on his face. He was probably worried about Naruto, despite his yelling it was obvious the orange menace was his favorite student.

Sakumo nodded and created an additional two clones, careful that these two where perfect. Glancing out of the corner of his eye, they seemed more than passable. He waited impatiently, his hands clasped tightly behind his back as the two teachers traded looks.

"Pass!" Iruka-sensei said loudly. Maybe Naruto and Iruka-sensei had bonded over a mutual love of yelling, Sakumo thought before the words registered and a large grin split his face.

"Congratulations Haruno-kun, great job." Mizuki-sensei did offering Sakumo a hitae. Sakumo took the metal headband eagerly surprised by how heavy it seemed like Mizuki-sensei read his mind as he gave him a lopsided smile.

"That's the weight of loyalty." Sakumo's grin only widened.

"Thank you very much sensei!" He said energetically, bowing at the waist and then all but running out of the room, the hitae, _his_ hitae clenched to his chest. He was a ninja! He calmed himself forcing himself not to run when he saw his mother waiting outside in the quad smiling happily as soon as she saw his full hands.

"You did it!" She said, running up to him expression Sakumo's energy when he didn't. "Oh my boy," she smiled widely placing a hand on his cheek, "You're growing up so fast." Sakumo's grin didn't falter.

Mebuki's hand dropped from his face as she held both of her hands out. "Here, let me." He placed his hitae in her hands without hesitation and she placed the sightly scratchy fabric against his forehead tying the headband securely just under his hairline.

"Look at you." She smiled. "Come on Saku-chan let's go have dinner, your favorite."

Sakumo was so ecstatic he didn't mention the childhood nickname or the way she placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Un!"

He was a shinobi!

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Sakumo woke up to the sound of his mother yelling and the sound of the broom hitting the ceiling from the kitchen downstairs. He jumped up, almost rolling out of bed and onto the floor face first but recovering at the last moment. His alarm clock told his it was nine o' clock, he was seriously late.

He was still fastening his changshan as he ran down stairs and into the kitchen. "Why didn't you wake me earlier?" He complained.

His mother glared at him. "I did! Three times!" She said slamming her hand down on the bench in front of a series of bowls and ultimately food he couldn't eat if he wanted to be on time. "You will eat the food that I have made you!" She said recognizing the expression on Sakumo's face.

Sakumo sat down somewhat grudgingly and dug into his food, eating as quickly, and as inelegantly, as possible. Mebuki sighed looking at her child wondering where she had gone wrong to get a son with no manners. It was of course her husband's fault.

The bowls clattered onto the table as Sakumo dashed off again, and his mother watched him with a mixture of amusement and frustration.

"Forgetting something?" She called. A head appeared from around the corner of the corridor, she tapped her forehead twice. "Crap!" Sakumo ran upstairs, with his shoes on.

"Language!" She yelled.

Sakumo was out of the house only a second later, jumping out the window and sliding down the metal pipe that ran parallel to his window rather than go past his mother again. He began his sprint towards the academy looking up for a moment to see that the Hokage monument was clean, and would hopefully remain that way for a while.

He made his way to the Academy, fortunately his classroom was one of the closest to the entrance and slid to a stop in front of the entrance only realizing a second later he was blocking someone from behind him entry. He turned around to see Ikura-sensei looking irritated.

"You're late."He said. On second thoughts Sakumo realised he much preferred it when everyone was yelling, everyone seemed so much more intimidation when they were using 'inside voices'. Sakumo sweat dropped as he tried to think of a way to get out of trouble.

"Technically sensei I got here before you. So that would make you late." Sakumo said turning around and sliding open the door only to slam it shut again.

"Um. Iruka-sensei I don't think you should go in there for a moment." The pink haired genin said after an obese silence.

"And why would that be?"

Sakumo paused. "I'm sure the moment has passed already." He said as he slid the door open, only one eye open hoping that Naruto and Sasuke kissing had only been an extremely disturbed hallucination.

Instead the entire class was in uproar. Sakumo slammed the door close again.

"Haruno-san I really need to enter the classroom." Iruka-sensei deadpanned. Sakumo turned around and smiled nervously.

"There are some things a teacher doesn't need to know about his students?" Sakumo said, hopping that it didn't sound so much like a question to Iruka-sensei as it did to himself.

"Where's Mizuki-sensei?" Sakumo asked instead. He needed to distract Iruka-sensei, and judging by the sounds coming from the class room that he was so pointedly ignoring, for a few more minutes.

"Ah Mizuki-san is..." Iruka-sensei trailed off, for a second he looked torn and Sakumo determined that the next thing that came out of Iruka's mouth was a barefaced lie. "On an extended vacation; he has gone to visit his relatives in the Land of Tea."

Sakumo paused before responding. "I never knew Mizuki-sensei had relatives outside of Konoha."

"You know Haruno I really have to get into that classroom." Iruka-sensei reminded. Sakumo waited for a moment to try and hear if the 'situation' had calmed down. At the very least the remaining scuffle was much quieter and what was a class of shinobi-wanabees without fights?

"Of course Sensei." Sakumo said opening the door and stepping in before Iruka, bowing shallowly to the teacher before moving to find a seat.

Iruka-sensei stood in front of his class staring at all his students individually before beginning his last lecture. "Begining today you are all real ninjas.. but you are merely rookie genin. The hard part has just started.

"Now, you will soon be assigned duties by the village. So we will be creating three man teams each of which will have a jounin sensei. You will follow that sensei's instructions as you complete the assigned duties."

Sakumo knew all about three man teams already and that calling them 'three man' was technically incorrect. All the genin teams he had read about composed of two boys and a girl and a jounin sensei of either gender. The teams were meant to be balanced so that each member could enhance another's strength. Konoha was not the village famed for its teamwork for nothing.

Despite the knowledge that came to the surface of his head at the mention Sakumo couldn't help but hoped he was placed on a team with Ino, maybe she would finally notice him instead of Sasuke..

Sakumo droned out the rest of the names called after hearing Ino being placed into team one with Shikamaru and Choji. There went that fantasy. He let his head drop into his arms in disappointment and wondering who he would be grouped with; unwilling to shake the idea that he and Ino would have made a great team.

"Next... team seven: Haruno Sakumo," Sakumo's head snapped up, "Uzumaki Naruto and..." Iruka-sensei looked up with a crooked smile, "Uchiha Sasuke."

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What.

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"What." Sakumo repeated.

"What the- Sensei" Naruto shot out of his seat while Sasuke just looked confused behind the clasped hands that hid most of his face.

"Iruka-sensei who does an outstanding ninja like me have to be on the same team as that bum!" He said pointing at Sasuke. "And why are we the only team without a girl!" He wined pointing at Sakumo. Sakumo felt his eyebrow twitch, why would Naruto label him as the 'girl' of the group. His fist clenched at his side but he forced himself to calm down, Ino was watching he didn't want to make a scene.

"Sasuke's grades where first among all twenty-seven graduates, and you Naruto where dead last! We have to balance the teams you understand." Iruka-sensei explained keeping his temper for once.

"And our gender ratio is more skewed than normal this year." He added as an afterthought.

"You had got to be kidding me."Sakumo muttered.

"Bah," Sasuke looked to the side, "Just don't get in my way." Sakumo felt his anger rise."Dead last." Sasuke muttered.

"What did you call me!" Naruto yelled from the seat behind Sakumo, into his ear. He stood up abruptly, his chair clattering to the side as he punched Naruto in his already bruised face. "Shut up already Naruto!" Sakumo yelled back.

"Be quiet!" Ikura-sensei yelled. "And mind your tong!"

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Yes, Sakumo decided his luck had defiantly run out.

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A/N: So here's a thing. Wonder how it will go.

Side note, this site is awefull: it _feeds_ on the destruction of any formating. I've tried to space it out with '.''s to make it easier to read but it I should add more just say so in a review.


	2. Backtalk

Disclaimer: I own nothing

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Chapter 2: Backtalk

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Things where not going so well for team seven.

And buy not going well Sakumo was a hairs breath away from pummeling Naruto's face in, because he just wouldn't stop making noise. He wasn't even talking anymore he was just lying on the desk rolling back and forth and groaning loudly in the almost empty classroom. Between Sakumo and Sasuke's bad moods the atmosphere was deafening.

"Our jounin-sensei three hours late already!" Naruto whined, rolling of the table onto his feet.

"Baka-Naruto what are you going to do about it?" Sakumo drawled.

Naruto was jumping around the classroom like he was looking for something, either that or his twitchiness was finally getting the better of him. "Aho!" He responded loudly, before bending over to pick up a blackboard eraser that had fallen to the ground and been forgotten about; he smiled like he had just had an epiphany before wedging the eraser between the sliding door and the wall.

"Hey! What are you doing Naruto." Sakumo said jumping to his feet.

Naruto stuck his tong out with a loud 'bleh'. "That's what you get for being late." He said still jumping restlessly around the classroom. Sakumo gave him the most deadpan look he could muster before collapsing back in his seat. It had been a long three hours.

Sasuke scoffed, looking to the side snidely. "Like a jounin is going to fall for such a simple booby trap." Sakumo looked up slightly surprised; it was the first thing Sasuke had said the entire time they had been waiting in the classroom for so long after everyone else had left.

Only a second later a hand reached through the crack of the door sliding it open and for the eraser to fall directly on the perpetrators head in a puff of white chalk. Naruto all but fell over laughing pointing rudely at the doorway. "You fell for it!"

The man entering the room was decidedly unimpressive, Sakumo thought; he was tall but not muscular, slouchy and droopy eyes- of the one eye Sakumo could see- and he wasn't sure if the man's hair was naturally that shade of grey or it was due to the chalk. Either way, Sakumo felt somewhat cheated to have waited three hours for... this.

Sakumo could imagine the man grinning underneath his mask as he stared up at the ceiling over hand on his chin in the parody of a pensive posture. "Hmm... how can I say this?"

"My first impression is I don't like you guys at all." He said sounding much too cheerful.

Sakumo stared up at his 'teacher', feeling his shoulders drop. The reactions of the other boys around the room where much the same.

"Meet me up on the rooftop in five." Their sensei said cheerfully before disappearing with a crack and a cloud of smoke. Between coughs and blurry vision, Sakumo could almost swear he saw the man stroll as happily out of the classroom under the smoke cover as he had entered it.

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Five minutes later team seven where sitting on the rooftop staring at their more than a little suspicious jounin-sensei who had yet to introduce himself. He was leaning against the railing on top of the school looking down on the newly graduated genin looking anywhere but his students.

"So then," He began, "Let's begin with some introductions."

"What do you want to know?" Sakumo asked.

"How about your likes, dislikes," He said with a shrug showing just how much he cared about their answers, "Dreams for the future, hobbies that sort of stuff."

"Hey, hey, why don't you introduce yourself first?" Naruto said leaning forward. Sasuke and Sakumo remained quiet but all of them thinking along the same lines of how could they have scored such a suspicious looking teacher.

"Oh me? My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you guys about my likes and dislikes." He drawled. "Dreams for the future? Hmm.. I have a lot of hobbies." He finished with a lecherous gleam in his eye.

Sakumo felt his face fall further, was this guy for real? At least he knew his name now but still.. "So all we learned was his name?" He vocalized looking at Naruto.

"Now it's your turn, from the right." Kakashi said gesturing to Naruto.

Naruto looked up with a grin. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like cup ramen. What I like even more is the restaurant ramen Iruka-sensei buys for me. What I dislike is waiting three minutes for cup ramen to cook. My dream is," He jumped up bringing his fists up, falling into his less than adequate stance of the basic academy taijutsu, "to surpass the Hokage! And then have all the people in this village acknowledged my existence."

Sakumo shoulders dropped at the proclamation. Of course it was that; why be curious for even a second when Naruto had all but screamed it from the top of the Hokage monument for as many times as he had loudly proclaimed his never-dying ambition. At least it wasn't ever changing, Sakumo thought, there was something somewhat worth admiring in sticking to one goal for such a long time.

Kakashi only stared at Naruto silently. "My hobbies... pranks I guess." Naruto added as an afterthought.

"Next."

Sasuke looked slightly off put as he answered. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are tons of things I dislike but I don't really like anything. And I don't use the 'dream' but..." He paused momentarily. "I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and to kill a certain man."

Sakumo's neck cracked loudly as he snapped his head to look at the boy next to him, Naruto was staring with a mirror expression of shock. To kill a certain man, Sakumo replayed the words in his head, what a twisted ambition. He glanced to Kakashi, frowning when he saw the man's facial expression remained the same: apathetic and lazy.

"Next."

"I'm Haruno Sakumo. I like, uh.. shiratama anmitsu. I dislike spicy food." Naruto had introduced himself with his obsession with ramen, why couldn't he- and it wasn't like anything he would say would ever be more interesting than the bombshell Sasuke had just dropped. " My dream for the future is.. to be a good shinobi and my hobby is collecting seashells."

Sakumo almost face palmed at his introduction 'to be a good shinobi' well there went first impressions, even though the only one he had been trying to make a decent impression on was their jounin-sensei and, Sakumo looked up, he looked just as worthless as earlier.

Naruto started laughing loudly. "What?" Sakumo asked.

"Collecting seashells!" Naruto said between laughter. "It's so girly!"

Sakumo saw red. "And what your hobby dead-last? Eating ramen! You'll be fat before you turn twenty-one"

Naruto jumped up, pointing his finger in Sakumo's face as he yelled. "You take that back, ramen is the food of the gods!"

"Ok!" Their teacher said loudly, clapping his hands to regain his students attention. "That's enough of that. We'll start our duties tomorrow."

"What kind of duties?" Naruto yelled, instantly distracted. That's what ramen does to you, Sakumo thought heatedly, it rots away your brain from the inside.

"First we are going to do something just the four of us- survival training." Kakashi said happily.

"Survival training?" Naruto echoed intelligently.

"Why training?" Sakumo mused when Sasuke didn't say anything. "Stuff we didn't do at the academy?"

"That's right, I'll be your opponent!" Kakashi said, leaning back against the railing. "But this isn't normal training."

"Why not then?" Naruto chirped. Sakumo frowned when Kakashi's only response was to chuckle.

"You guys will probably flip when you hear this but.." He said shifting his weight making the old railing creak loudly. "Of the twenty-seven graduates only nine of them will be chosen as genin. The rest will be sent back to the academy. This training is super difficult with a sixty-six percent failure rate!"

Sakumo resisted the urge to reach for his hitae. He had only gotten it yesterday, he had passed- this couldn't be fair. He said as much protesting loudly with Naruto. "But we worked so hard what was the point of graduating!"

"Oh that was only to select _potential_ genin." Kakashi said, his voice overly mirthful.

"Anyway, you'll be graded tomorrow on the training field. Bring all your shinobi tools." He said."Oh and, skip breakfast or else you'll throw up."

"The details are in this printout." He said handing them pieces of paper. "Don't be late tomorrow."

Sakumo felt himself wilt, don't be late like their sensei, even he could handle that much. He looked down at the piece of paper and was surprised by how little information there was on it; why didn't the man just tell them himself-

-he looked up just in time to be blinded by another smoke bomb and to see his 'teacher's two fingered salute. The man knew how to make an exit at the very least.

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Sakumo began walking home slowly while reading the handout. He crushed the urge to do any last minute training, despite how much of a push over their jounin-sensei seemed to be he didn't want to be experiencing any muscle pain while he was facing a jounin if he could avoid it.

He was so buried in his thoughts that he didn't see the person in front of him until he knocked into them falling over, only catching himself at the last second to not hit his head against the ground. The person he had bumped into wasn't quite as fortunate and had fallen flat on their back.

"Itai-" Came the familiar voice from beneath him. A second after realizing who it was he had landed on he jumped back offering up his hand.

"I'm so sorry Ino!" He said with a smile he hoped was guilty. She took his hand, tugging on it a bit more viciously than she had to, her other hand holding her head.

"Ah I'm ok." She said wiping the pout from her face. "Even though I'm a girl I'm much stronger than you'll ever be!"

Sakumo chuckled somewhat nervously as he helped her to her feet. "How is your team? Who's your jounin-sensei?" He asked, he could usually make her forget about a bad mood as long as she talked about other things.

"My team _sucks_." She said loudly. "Shikamaru and Chouji are so boring. All they do is eat and cloud watch." Sakumo's smile turned somewhat more brittle as he noticed the three approaching figures behind Ino. "Ano-"

"And Asuma-sensei seems sort of cool but really lazy you know." She said flicking her fringe. "My entire team is consisted of lazy old men. You know if you add their ages together they'd be fifty-two. I mean that is seriously old." The three people where no longer moving and only standing behind Ino, Chouji looking at Sakumo with an expression that was a combination of exasperation and amusement. "Ano-"

"I can't believe they would put Sasuke on a team without me you know, I mean at least there's no girls- you don't like him right?" Ino said only pausing to register Sakumo's quick denial. "Being on a team with him would be the best, we would be the ultimate combo! No, instead I'm stuck with old, stupid and boring."

"And he's a chain smoker too! Asuma-sensei was smoking like a chimney the entire time we-" "Ano, Ino-chan." Sakumo said with more force.

"What?" She snapped, annoyed that she had been cut off. Sakumo pointed over her shoulder. She turned to see 'old, stupid and boring' only to shrug.

"It's not like I wouldn't have said the same thing to their face." She said primly, not one to apologize. It was true though, her forthrightness was one of the things he liked about her.

"Hey brat don't you think you're a little out of line?" Asuma said, the only one of the trio who seemed annoyed at Ino's behavior.

Ino only stuck out her tong and took his expression of shock as an opening to escape.

"I'm not even that old." He lamented, watching his genin dash away. "I'm only twenty-seven."Shikamaru only snorted, heading off with Chouji without a word.

"Well you are a ninja?" Sakumo offered only for Asuma's face to drop further. "Did you pass them?" He asked. Asuma nodded glumly.

"I'm sure it's just a faze." He was almost sure it wasn't. "Good luck ne!" He walked off leaving the depressed jounin thinking maybe his team placement wasn't too bad after all. He shook his head, yeah right.

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A/N: Here's another thing. And a warning, there will be a lot of 'filler'ish stuff.


	3. Porridge

A/N: I own nothing, _obviously._

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Chapter 3: Porridge

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As it turned out the next morning Kakashi-sensei's threat was more imposing then he had initially thought it had been. He had brought it up in passing to his mother the night before who had nodded, smiling at him and told him not to speak with his mouth full as he ate more than usual; maybe if he ate enough he wouldn't be hungry in the morning?

Rather he woke up with a stomach ache and a cross mother. He deflated, sitting at the counter across from his mother wilting at the large bowl of rice porridge. He hated rice porridge, and his mother knew that. Never mind that he was late for his survival training, the smell of the stuff was offensive.

"Kaa-san I already told you I can't-" He began hoping that she would listen for once, but his mother was in one of her moods.  
She threw up her hands in mock defeat letting out a loud wail. "Oh your too good for your Kaa-san's homemade breakfast! Look at your son Kizashi, look at him denying his mother!"

Kizashi looked up at his wife, sending his soon the look; the one that roughly translated to do-whatever-it-is-your-mother-wants-so-she'll-leave-me-alone, and smiled crookedly. "Well maybe it's your homemade cooking thats done this to him." He said. "He's more your son than mine."

Sakumo reluctantly picked up his chopsticks, poking at the food and willing it to disappear as his Mebuki started screaming at Kizashi without relent, Kizashi yelling back. Whenever he did pay attention to his parents arguments it was like watching a tennis match, but they happened so often the novelty was lost on him. He took a bite of the porridge swallowing loudly only for his stomach to let out an unhealthy grumble, loud enough for his parents to pause their argument.

Mabuki lost some of her steam as she took in just how miserable Sakumo looked and sighed. "Just go."

Sakumo left without another sound, racing out the door and leaving the porridge far behind him as he began racing to the designated training ground. It was already ten and the hand out is good-for-nothing jounin sensei had given him had said to be at the training ground at eight.

He pushed his legs faster making a split second decision as the first of the training grounds came into view and jumping up into the trees. If he arrived three hours late, running and on foot he would be in trouble but maybe if he avoided the more obvious grounds until he found his team he could claim he had fallen asleep in one of the bushes or something!

... or something...

He continued jumping from tree to tree undeterred, chunks of bark chipping of the trees as she forced too much chakra into his feet in his inattention. He enhanced most of his actions with chakra ever since they had been taught at the academy but he was worried he would overdo it before he even got to his training.

He saw Naruto first of course, the orange jumpsuit was unmistakably Naruto and the boy standing next to him had the unique Uchiwa fan on the back of his shirt. Sakumo wondered why they where standing so attentively when she saw a man who was unmistakably their new jounin sensei approaching.

A second before he began to panic he wondered why it was that the entirety of team seven looked so distinctive. A second later he panicked when he realised his jounin-sensei would realize he was over three hours late to their first team meeting. No matter how much of a no-good-sensei he was Kakashi-sensei would probably fail Sakumo out of principal.

And it was a split second after that that he slipped, the chakra in his feet flaring just slightly sending him much further than he had meant to go so he was jumping at nothing, he then began to fall, directly onto Naruto

He hit the ground with a painful thud, his head fortunately missing the dirt and was instead on something much more squishy and orange. For a moment Sakumo wondered if Naruto smelled so much like salt because he ate so much ramen, but the moment passed very quickly before Sakumo launched himself off of Naruto and to his own feet.

"What the-" Naruto pointed still on the ground "-where did-"

"You're late." A deeper voice chimed, breaking Sakumo's attention on Naruto. he snapped his head around to stare at his jounin sensei.

"Well you see, uh. I got here just as you did so really I'm right on time." He babbled feeling his face go as pink as his hair. Sasuke looked decidedly unimpressed while Kakashi-sensei looked vaguely amused, but it really was hard to tell with the face mask.  
"Mah, I guess so." Kakashi relented, his eyes glancing to Naruto who was now standing, brushing imaginary dirt of his clothes and glaring daggers at Sakumo.

Abruptly he pulled out an alarm clock with one hand and an orange book (the same one he had seen his father stash in the linnen closet not too long ago) with the other from his pocket setting the alarm on a random stump Sakumo hadn't noticed before and set the alarm for noon. All genin watched him quietly.

He showed the kids his empty right hand, making a fist and when he opened it he loosely held two strings. Two gold balls hung in the air.

"Here are two bells." Kakashi-sensei begun. Duh, Sakumo couldn't help but think. "Your task is to take these from me before noon. Those who do not get a bell before noon get no lunch. I'll not only tie you to one of the stumps but I'll eat right in front of you.  
Sakumo looked over at the three stumps as Naruto and Sasuke did at the side of the clearing feeling decidedly ill at the mention of food.

"You only need to get one bell. There are only two, so one of you will defiantly end up tied to the stump." There was defiantly a teasing tone to Kakashi-sensei's tone. "And the person who doesn't get a bell fails. They'll be sent back to the academy."  
The clearing was quiet. Sakumo resisted the urge to bite the inside of his cheek as he always did when nervous, he didn't want to go back to the academy!

"You can use whatever you want. You won't succeed unless you come at me with the intent to kill." Kakashi said , waving the bells slightly so they clinked together.  
"But you'll be in danger!" Sakumo couldn't help but burst out. Naruto nodded. "Yeah you're so slow you can't even dodge a blackboard eraser."

The jounin's expression became somewhat more strained as he continued in the same drawl. "Those with no talent always bark the loudest. Well, ignore Mr. Dead Last and start when I say-" Naruto lunged at Kakashi-sensei without hesitation.  
Sakumo blinked.

Kakashi-sensei was behind Naruto, his orange book nowhere to be seen as one hand held Naruto's own kunai to the orange menace's throat the other placed firmly on his head. Sakumo hadn't seen a thing and glancing out of the corner of his ye neither had Sasuke. Not so no-good after all.

"Well it seems like you're prepared to come at me with the intent to kill." He said, cocking his head to the side. "Seems like I'm beginning to like you guys."

There was another loud silence. "Start!" He barked out the word only to vanish in a large cloud of thick smoke leaving all three genin, coughing even as they dispersed in different directions into the forest.

Sakumo found himself crouched in a tree overlooking the clearing, falling back to more secure cover when he saw the jounin was standing in the open field in that same lazy slouch, groping for something in his pocket only to produce that orange book.

"Come and fight me!" He head what could only be Naruto yell, he couldn't hear the next few response from the distance but felt himself gasp as Naruto lunged kunai in hand like he had before. Sakumo wondered if it would end up the same way.

Sakumo could only feel himself sweat drop as Naruto attacked the man again and again only to be brushed off at every turn. From this distance it almost looked like pushing around a puppy. He had to bite his cheek to keep in the laughter at Naruto's terrible performance- he was dead last for a reason.

This time Sakumo saw Kakashi-sensei as he slipped behind Naruto. His eyes widened as he realized how fast the jounin really was. He continued to watch in curiosity as Kakashi-sensei began to form a hand seal- the tiger seal, perhaps, behind Narutos back.  
"Naruto, get out of there. You're going to get killed!" Sakumo yelled, giving away his location, though Kakashi didn't react as if he had heard him and Naruto was turning around to slowly to do anything but widen his eyes.  
"Hidden leaf ancient taijutsu supreme technique," Sakumo felt himself dead pan, what sort of technique had such a tacky name. "A thousand years of pain!"

Kakashi's eye gleamed evily.

Sakumo's mind blanked.

Naruto screamed.

Sasuke blinked.

Nope. Nopedy, nopedy, nope. Sakumo was out.

He had never considered himself prudish before but this was his limit. So what Naruto and Sasuke had kissed, so what Kakashi brought around the same orange book his father hid in the linnen closet from his mother. But super powerful ass pokes? If he was hesitant to attack Kakashi before he certainly wasn't now.

Sakumo glared at Kakashi, vaguely taking note of the large splash of water where Naruto had landed more disgusted by the light blush on his teachers face as he read his book, he was only disappointed when the grey haired man caught the shiruken thrown his way without looking away.

Naruto crawled out of the water landing on the river bed looking akin to a half drowned rat. "Damnit! I can still fight on an empty stomach!" Sakumo's own stomach decided to make its discomfort known by groaning loudly. The pinkette felt a wave of nausea wash over him only to suppress in with a stubborn frown. He needed to pay attention, or he was going to be forced back into the academy.

He turned away from Naruto and Kakashi hopping down from his tree to the floor. Plotting, maybe if he set up some traps...  
"Goddammit!" Spectating Naruto's failures certainty wasn't going to help him pass, but his traps where worse than Naruto's genjutsu. He had already revealed his location anyway he needed a new place to hide, maybe somewhere high to strike from above.

People always forgot to look up, but then most people weren't jounin. It was worth a shot.

He spied Kakashi absorbed in his book not ten meters away. He pulled a kunai to his hand, readying himself to lunge at the man unawares below, maybe he could hit him over the head grab both the bells and run, when he felt a tap on his shoulder.  
Sakumo spun around only to see the man he thought was in front of him, far too close for comfort. He startled backwards out ot reflex, slipping out of his tree and onto the ground but easily landing on his two feet only to stumble into something behind him.  
He turned around again to see his mother.

"Kaa-san what are you doing here?" He hissed. She had probably come after him with some more breakfast, she was so weird about food... after a minute when she didn't respond only let out a strangled gurgle he noticed how glassy her eyes where.

She slumped forward, he tried to grab her help her keep upright but she seemed as heavy as led as her body pinned his to the ground. Struggling to get out from under her he saw her back riddled with shiruken and kunai. He fell back in shock only to end up looking into her face. She coughed, a large splatter of blood hitting his face.

"No-" He didn't scream, he only saw black.

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* * *

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Sakumo opened his eyes what felt like only a second later. He jumped to his feet looking for a sign of Mebuki only to find himself covered with more scrapes and bruises he remembered acquiring. His scrunched his eyes closed, counting to three before opening them wide again.

To his left her heard a noise, something like... scratching? He stalked over, careful to make sure he didn't see the jounin-sensei anyway. So focused he almost tripped over the head sprouting from the ground.

"Watch it!"

"Sasuke?" Sakumo asked, somewhat gobsmacked.

"Idiot." Sasuke muttered, buried in the ground up to his neck. As he struggled slowly making his way upwards small, very small, clumps of dirt where dislodged. "Help me."

Sakumo paused for a second before crouching down, loosening the soil around Sasuke's neck with his hands. He would want someone to do the same to him if he where in this situation, though he wondered if Sasuke would help him if their roles where reversed.  
It took too long to dig Sasuke out, eventually getting one of his arms free so Sakumo could pull the other boy out of his hole. Sakumo had always been a bit on the weaker side, his mother always complained about how slight he was, how thin his wrists where but he never realized how weak he was until he struggled pulling Sasuke up. At least he was tall.

"There's not much time left until noon." Sasuke said. "I'm going."

Sakumo wondered for a second why he was telling him and the sighed. "You're still going after the bell?

"Hn. I already touched it, I can get it easily." He said looking to the clearing.

Sakumo didn't try to hide the disbelief cleanly written on his face. Sasuke didn't catch the look but took the silence as admission and began to make his way towards the clearing. A second later they both hear what was unmistakably Kakashi's alarm clock.

"Damnit!" Sakumo exclaimed, grinding his teeth at the noise. He had wasted too much time and got caught in a genjustsu to boot. The two boys walked silently towards the clearing, neither exchanging looks or conversation. When they arrived they where greeted with the sight of two bentos, Kakashi and Naruto, tied to a tree stump. Sakumo glanced between the jounin and Naruto and thought that the ropes no longer seemed so innocent.

"Oh you guys look really hungry."Kakashi said, every word glazed with mirth. "Well.. there's no need for any of you guys to go back to the Academy. All three of you should quite being shinobi."

Sakumo inhaled sharply at the admission, feeling his fist tighten unconsciously.

"Quit as shinobi! Never!" Naruto yelled, thrashing against his bonds. "Yeah we couldn't get the bells, but why should we have to quit!"  
"Because all of you are punks who don't deserve to be ninja." Kakashi said in the same tone of voice. Sasuke was the one to lunge at Kakashi this time, with Naruto unable. The jounin had him pinned to the ground the moment Sasuke was within a meter of his person. One hand twisting his arm around, a foot pushing his face into the dirt. A second humiliation to the sole resident Uchiha.

"Aern't you kids underestimating ninja?" Kakashi said, the humor sapped out of his voice. It seemed colder. "Why do you think you where divided into teams and are doing this training?"

Sakumo drew blanks. Why where they divided into teams? What sort of question was that anyway?

"Basically," Kakashi's voice returned to normal, "you guys don't understand the answer to the this test."

"Answer?" Naruto echoed intelligently.

"Yes the answer that helps you pass this test."

"Are you going to tell us?" Sakumo asked, a hand sneaking to his own kunai as he stared nervously at Sasuke still pinned to the ground.

"Tell us!" Naruto all but screamed. Sakumo resisted the urge to rub his ear, wondering why it was that he always positioned himself next to the bullheaded buy whenever he got into a screaming match.

"It's teamwork." Kakashi said. "The three of you working together may have gotten the bells. Since there are only two it means you would fight about who would get a bell and who would have to go back to the academy or alternatively," he looked over the three genin, " not work together at all.

"Individual play that disrupts the team can put your comrades in danger." He said moving his hold on Sasuke so that rather than stepping on him he was sitting on him, a kunai held to his throat. "And even get you killed. For example..."

Haruno! Kill Naruto or else Sasuke dies!" He barked. Sakumo went still, this no-good-teacher- couldn't be serious.  
"You see?" He said getting off of Sasuke. "If a hostage gets taken, you might have to make some tough decisions. You will be risking your life doing you duties. Look at the numerous names carved into this stone.

"These are ninja who are all recognized as heroes of the village."

"I'll get my name carved onto that stone! Hero! That's what I'll be!" Naruto cheered jovially even as everyone else stilled. Sakumo couldn't resist muttering' idiot' under his breath.

"They aren't normal heroes, they are all heroes who died in the line of duty." Kakashi explained. Naruto stilled, the nervous tension that seemed to constantly rack his body seemed to evaporate if only for a moment.

"This is a memorial. My best friends name is also written here..." Sakumo cocked his head to the side, letting his stance slip. He didn't see Kakashi being the 'tragic past' type with such a carefree attitude. Sasuke was hardly a surprise in that regard.

"I'll give you one more chance. But after lunch it'll be even more difficult to get the bells. You can eat those bentos but don't give any to Naruto. It's punishment for trying to eat by yourself." Kakashi explained.

"If anyone gives him food they will fail immediately. I am the rules here. Got it?" He dissipated again, this time not even with a cloud of smoke.

"Heh, I don't need food. I'm fine." Naruto said, kicking a near by rock even as his stomach growled loudly.

Sasuke sat down and cracked open one of the bentos sitting beside where Naruto was strung up, Sakumo did as well only for teh smell to waft into his face. Rice, chicken, vegetables... it wasn't that it was bad. Looking at the food it probably would have been tastey on any other day but Sakumo still felt nauseated by the mere mention of food, let alone the smell.

He glanced to the side as Narutos stomach let out get another pathetic grumble, the boy himself looking at the ground miserably.  
Sakumo sighed, cracking the wooden chopsticks and picking up a piece of chicken, moving himself in front of Naruto as to feed him. At the same time Sasuke shoved his bento towards Naruto in a way that could have been almost dramatic if Sakumo wasn't in the position he was in, and he was.

"Eh?" Was Nauto's intelligent response.

"Eat baka." Sakumo chided, even as he felt his ears turn ever so pink. If Ino saw him feeding another guy, let alone Naruto, he would never live this down.

"You know I guess this team distribution isn't so different from normal." Naruto said, a shit eating grin splitting his face. "Two guys, one girl..."

Sakumo saw red. He ate the offered piece of chicken despite his nausea swallowing it whole only to see the devastated look on Naruto's face.

"I didn't mean it!" He babbled. "Honest. Your the manliest guy I've ever seen- except for the pink hair-"

Sakumo shoved a piece of food into his mouth before he could say anything more idiotic.

The clearing was filled with smoke as Kakashi reappeared. Sakumo would have almost rolled his eyes at their sensei's flair for dramatics if the situation had been different.

"You guys... Pass!" He said looming over the three kids.

"Wha?" Sakumo looked up at the undoubtedly smiling man, despite the mask. "Pass?"

"Yeap. Your the first to go against what I specifically said. They where all morons!"

"A ninja must see underneath the underneath. Those who break the rules are trash in the ninja world... but you know what? Those who don't take care of their comrades are lower than trash.

"That ends our survival training! All of you pass! Staring tomorrow team seven begins it's duties!" He yelled enthusiastically. Something seemed to light in Naruto's eye at this exclamation as well. Sakumo deflated, of course Kakashi would be standing right next to him. Yelling, right in his ear. Of course.

"Yay! I did it!" Sakumo resisted the urge to yell back that Naruto didn't to anything, but couldn't help the smile that found its way onto his lips. He had passed. He was a real ninja now.

"Let's go!" Kakashi said, briefly putting a hand on both Sakumo and Sasuke's shoulders as the trio headed off. Sakumo found small comfort in the retreating noise of Naruto's screams for help.

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A/N:So this one is a bit longer. I'm almost finished with exams, so what do I do? Write terrible fanfiction. This took so long, you don't realize how long Kakashi's monologueing is until you write it out, and I did cut some out.


	4. Super

A/N: I own nothing, _obviously._

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Chapter 4: Super

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As much as Kakashi had talked up the job being a shinobi wasn't nearly as exciting as Sakumo had initially thought it was; but maybe that was biased due to his first month of being on shinobi active duty where he and his team did exactly zero shinobi duties. That was unless you counted chasing cats and cleaning especially disgusting bathrooms acting as a shield between Konoha and it's enemies. He really wasn't so sure.

D rank missions where just as terrible as he had always imagined, even worse in fact because everyone seemed to gloss over them- which he now knew why. He had never wondered why it was Iruka's occasional stories of what to expect after you graduated from the academy always skipped over the first six months, if only he had been a little smarter and followed his moms advice.

But he was a ninja now dammit, and he couldn't quite because of a stupid cat and demeaning chores no matter how much it he hated it. At least he wasn't the only one, Sasuke seemed as frustrated as he was, if a bit more quietly and each day that went past Naruto grew more and more tense. Sakumo was waiting for other boy to burst, something like the cork of a champagne bottle and hopefully taking out a someone's eye (Kakashi).

The only person who seemed to be enjoying the last month was, of course, Kakashi. He didn't do anything but sit around reading his book, blushing and giggling in the corner. Sakumo was surprised Naruto and Sasuke hadn't figured out what it was he was reading yet, but they didn't seem to care.

Only two weeks in Naruto had blown up about why team seven where doing so many stupid chores to which Kakashi had gone into another teamwork monologue, this one a lot less serious than the first one. Sakumo had all put sweat dropped during their performance wondering if it was going to be a common occurrence, it was.

But ultimately, they had grown closer. It was hard not to after spending so long doing chores of varying degrees of no longer held Naruto with the same level of disdain; they weren't friends or anything! Sakumo wouldn't ever be friends with such an idiot of course but he could settle for comrades. Even Sasuke seemed more tolerable. He sill disliked him of course, but it was more out of principle of Ino liking Sasuke more than she'd ever like him...

And Ino, had been diligently avoiding him for the past month.

No, that wasn't right and Sakumo knew it as much as he was uncomfortable to admit. Unlike team seven. Ino and her team had hit it off without a month of gruelling D ranks and she had been too busy for him. He had no difficulty admitting to himself that he was jealous of both Shikimaru and Chouji, even Asuma, but he was ashamed of the fact anyway.

He was broken out of his thoughts at Naruto's yell. Team seven was in the mission office, opposite the Hokage smoking his pipe and Iruka after returning the Daiyamo's cat. _Tora._

"NO! I can't take this anymore!" He yelled, his arms forming a large 'x'. "I wan't to do a better mission! Not another shitty D rank!"

All things considered Naruto lasted an exceptionally long amount of time doing such terrible missions.

"Idiot! You're just a rookie. Everyone starts off with simple duties and works their way up!" And that was Iruka, the lying scoundrel.

"I'm not an idiot but I can't take another one of these stupid missions!" Naruto yelled back.

Sasuke snorted quietly while the rest of team seven failed at hiding their amusement so everyone was equally surprised by the Hokage's response.

"Ok."

"Huh." Naruto said, his self righteous anger forgotten.

"If you want one that badly, I'll give you a C rank. It's an escort mission." Sarutobi said, pulling out a random scroll from his desk and lobbing it at Kakashi who caught it easily.

"Who? A feudal lord? A princess?" Naruto chimed excitedly.

"Calm down, i'll introduce him." Sarutobi said, smirking around his pipe. "You can come in now."

The door slid open to reveal... an old man. He looked like he could have been Kakashi's drinking buddy, Sakumo thought, and he was already holding a bottle of sake.

"Oy." Kakashi said, hitting Sakumo over the head with his perverted book. Sakumo rubbed the back of his head, had he said that out loud?

"What's with these brats? Hey short kid withe the stupid looking face, are you even a ninja?" He drawled leaning against the wall. He was already drunk by the sounds of it. Sakumo schooled his face not to give away the disgust he felt. Sasuke wasn't so quick on the mastery of his expression.

"Haha, the shortest one with the stupidest face..." Naruto laughed before looking side to side to both Sasuke and and Sakumo before realizing with a certain degree of shock that he was the shortest of team sever. You could almost hear the gears grind in his head. "I'll kill you!"

Kakashi grabbed Naruto by the collar of his shirt stopping his from lunging at the intoxicated man. It was comedic, like a mother picking up its pup by the scruff of it's neck. Kakashi sent a look half between a glare and a smile (it really was hard to tell with the facemask) Sakumo's way something must have slipped in his expression.

"I am the super expert bridge builder Tazuna." Tazuna delivered with little enthusiasm. "I expect you to provide me super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge."

And that was the mission.

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Sakumo was super excited.

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A/N: So this chapter is too short because I wanted to separate it from the rest of the wave ark. I also have a guest who keeps on leaving long winded reviews and throwing questions in here and there but if they want me to respond they should send me some sort of contact details (hint hint) -you know who you are.


	5. Leader

A/N: I own nothing, _obviously._

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Chapter 5: Leader

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So far Sakumo's first C-rank was going pretty well, taking into consideration that team seven was proving to be a catalyst for every singe drama imaginable. So with that in mind Sakumo only came one hour late to the designated meeting spot outside the main village gate- it really wasn't his fault that he had no stomach early in the morning- Kakashi come an hour and a half later with the bridge builder in tow, both of them smelling vaguely of alcohol. And after the insuring yelling competition between Naruto and Tazuna which left Sakumo's ears ringing for several minutes afterwards, team seven left Konoha for the first time at only nine o' clock.

Naruto continued to be loud the entire walk of course.

"You know I've never left Konoha before!" Naruto yelled excitedly. Now that team seven was walking the rest of the consort seemed entirely satisfied to ignore everything he said, only Sakumo nodding and imputing and appropriate 'u huh' at the right moment kept Naruto from whining about being neglected.

"Me neither." Sakumo said. Sasuke was, of course, silent other than the unprofessional sound of his sandles against the worn path. Sakumo felt smug in the knowledge that directing a very small film of chakara around the soles of his shoes he could smother the noise of his already quiet footsteps into nothingness.

Ultimalty it wasn't worth much but it was the little skills that he aquired that allowed him to win his mental competition with the Uchiha, even if he didn't know it. Ino's heart would be his someday! (Hopefully...)

"Oy, am I really going to be safe travelling with a brat like that?" Tazuna grumbled.

"Don't worry I'm a jounin." Kakashi said cheerfully even as Sakumo hit Naruto over the head to dispell the murderous glint that was developing in the bond's eyes.  
"Don't mess with me old man; one day I'll take on the super elite ninja title of Hokage! My name's Naruto Uzumaki and don't you forget it!" The short silence was followed by the sound of Sakumo hitting Naruto over the head and the resolving yelp.

"Idiot, don't talk about the Hokage title like that." Sakumo scowled.

Tazuna snorted loudly, "As if someone like you could be Hokage."

"Shut up! I'm prepared to do anything to become Hokage," Naruto yelled shaking a fist, "Once I become Hokage you'll have to acknowledged me!"

Tazuna took a long gulp from his sake bottle before answering. "Even on the off chance that you where to somehow become Hokage, I wont."

Sakumo sighed not bothering to try and calm Naruto and continued to trudge forward. It was a nice enough day and despite the mild ringing in his ears from the combination of Naruto's enthusiasm and lack of volume control he would enjoy it. He'd never been outside of Konoha and while it didn't seem particularly different from the inside of the walls there was bound to be something of interest.

"Oy Tazuna." Sakumo said after a particularly long silence.

"What."

"You're from wave country right?"

"What of it?" Tazuna said, looking into his sake bottle and the decreasing amount of liquid. It was almost comic. He took a swig from the bottle anyway.

"Are there shinobi in wave country as well, Kakashi?" Sakumo asked. He had mentally dropped the suffix 'sensei' three days ago but had never needed to address to the man in that time

"No, not in wave country," Kakashi answered, Sakumo wondered if he imagined a muttering of 'so uncute' but didn't pay it any mind," but most other countries do. Anyway don't worry about shinobi. There won't be any shinobi combat on a c-rank mission. "

"So no contact with foreign shinobi then?" Sakumo said, hidding the relief he felt from his voice.

"That's right." Kakashi said laughing openly, the sound in itself was somewhat disturbing and made the small hairs on the back of Sakumo's neck stand up. Sakumo continued walking but even once the sound stopped the feeling of unease didn't disappear if anything he felt like there where eyes on his back watching his every movement.

"Oy Kakashi-" "One down." The next thing Sakumo saw was an explosion of blood and chains.

Sakumo felt like he was drowning, a part of his mind remained cool and collected identifying the sensation as sever killing intent while the majority of his mind was in hysterics barely able to move under the pressure.

He breathed in heavily through his nose, desperately trying to reclaim control of his body even as he distantly heard the same voice. "Two down." Sakumo stared at their weapon of choice; a gauntlet with chains attached at the wrist, they didn't appear to be sharp but they had shredded Kakashi easily enough.

He grabbed a kunai and forced himself into a neutral stance, muscle memory came into practice as his muscles relaxed ready to move at a moments notice. There where two men, two incredibly fast men who had killed his jounin-sensei and-

Sakumo forced himself to move, pulling out two shiruken in a practiced motion and throwing them at both of Naruto's sides aiming for the men crouched behind his back. They deflected them easily with their metal gauntlets, almost in sync with each other. Using the same momentum they directed the chains at where Naruto had been standing only a second ago.

He positioned himself in front of Tazuna, noticing the other boys had forgotten about the bridge builder and instantly charged towards their attackers, and watched as Naruto and Sasuke engaged the twin fighters. A second later the unknown shinobi had easily slipped past both genin and where headed towards Tazuna, Sakumo standing directly in their way only realizing now that he was too slow to move the bridge builder to safety. He steeled himself only for a large figure to appear between him and the twin attackers.

It was Kakashi, Sakumo realized as he used the distraction to push Tazuna away from the conflict. The grey haired man had the two shinbi around the throat, manhandling them easily. Sakumo felt the adrenalin rush out of him instantly leaving him drained. He wanted to keel over but forced himself to stay composed.

"Naruto sorry for not heping you right away. I got you injured but I didn't think you wouldn't be able to move." Kakashi said. "Nice job Sasuke, Haruno."

Sakumo felt a rush of disappointment. He hadn't done anything besides act as a meat shield for Tazuna, and even that hadn't been successful. He felt so worthless, maybe it was a good thing he hadn't been put on Ino's team if he was such a weakling... he swallowed the bitter feeling and smiled anyway. At least he hadn't been injured.

"You alright? Mr scaredy cat?" Sasuke teased from behind him. Sakumo turned, watching the uncharacteristic taunting. Despite how he was acting, maybe the sudden violence had shaken up Sasuke as well if he was taking out his insecurity on Naruto. But then, it was none of his business.

"Save it Naruto. Their claws where soaked in poison, we have to remove it quickly. Don't move much or the poison will spread quicker, we need open the wound and release the poisoned blood" Kakashi instructed, in his 'jounin voice'. "Tazuna I need to talk to you."

"Haruno, tie these guys up." Sakumo nodded, catching the bundle of ropes Kakashi threw at him and began the process. Tying shinobi up was an art, one that required both skill and finesse, the hands had to be tied seperatly to ensure the captured shinobi cannot escape or use handseals and that in of its self was a much more difficult process than it initially seemed. He finished five minutes later just as the shinbi where regaining consciousness.

"There two are chunnin from the Hidden Village of Mist and are known to keep fighting no matter what." Kakashi said.

"How did you read our movements?" The man on the right asked, his voice muffled oddly by his gas mask.

"On a sunny day like today and when it hasn't rained in the last few days a puddle is pretty suspicious." Kakashi answered with a smile in his voice.

"Why did you let the brats fight when you knew that?" Tazuna demanded. Sakumo absently noted that the bridge builders hands where trembling, one gripped tightly around his sake bottle to the point his knuckles had turned white.

"I could have killed these two instantly but first I needed to confirm their target." Kakashi said. "This is a c-rank mission, we hadn't heard you where wanted by shinobi. Our mission was simply to protect you from bandits or thieves."

"This has been elevated to at least a B-rank mission." He explained. "If we had known shinobi where after you this would have been an expensive B-rank. I'm sure you had your reason, however, it causes problems when you lie about the mission details. We are now operating outside of out mission's duties."

Sakumo felt the words bubble to the tip of his tong. He could suggest that they quit, Naruto's wound needed tending to after all and they really weren't qualified but... how could he ever prove himself like that?

In the end it was Naruto who made the decision when he pulled out a kunai and abruptly drove it into his own hand.

"Naruto, you idiot! What are you doing?" He shot out instead.

"With this kunai, I'll protect the old man. We're continuing this mission." He said. Sakumo stared in disbelief, maybe it was because of the determination it required to inflict that sort of pain on ones self, maybe it was because for once in his life Naruto wasn't screaming in his ear, but he felt something in him resonate with the proclamation.

He wondered if Naruto wouldn't make such a bad Hokage after all with a spirit like that. A second later he shook his head, trying to knock the idea from his mind. He had already jinxed himself in his conversation with Kakashi earlier he didn't want to do so again.

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A/N: I'm sorry this is so short, but it's so late and I'm too tired and I pinky promise I'll make it up to you in the next chapter... (you might not want to hold me to that)

There is so much monologue in Naruto, I really hope this is interesting to read because this chapter was soul destroying to write.


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